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1 VOL. 56 NO.2, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, THURSDAY SEPT. 6,1984 16 PAGES
U of L Biomedical Center
films a historic transplant
By KAY MORGAN
Cardinal Staff Writer
Videotaping the first heart
transplant surgery in Kentucky
went without a hitch for U of L's
Biomedical Communications Cen­ter
(BCC).·
On Thursday, Aug. 23, BCC re­ceived
a call from Dr.Lahman
Gray, .Tr., professor in the Depart­ment
of Surgery at U of L, saying
that a recipient had been iden­tified
and a possible donor for
Kentucky's first heart transplant
located. They were notified that
on Friday, Alice Brandenburg
would become the recipient of a
healthy heart.
So at 7:30 a.m. Friday, BCC's
crew went to work setting up their
equipment and by 9 that morning
everything was in place.
Originally, WHAS!Louisvllle
was to have videotaped the
surgery.
.According to Dr. W. Roger
Poston, Director of the BCC:
"They (WHAS) could neither sup­ply
the equipment, nor could they
put their people on call 24 hours a
day. We had eight people rotating
on call, 24 hQurs a day, for over 2
weeks. Basically, their expertise
m the surgical suites was not as ex­tensive
as ours."
After all of the initial prepara­tions
were made, the staff met
with the media and public rela­tions
people from Jewish hospital
to coordinate efforts.
Poston said his staff began mak­ing
all preperations. "The hardest
part was seeing that we had
enough supplies there to do the
job correctly," he said. "We had to
have not only enough tape for the
recording, which will be used for
educational purposes, but we
needed a supply of 20-minute cas­settes
for the portable recorder."
The staff took great care to re­cord
the surgery without getting in
the way of the surgical team.
Poston said, "We used micro­phones
and headsets to make sure
we got as many shots related to
surgery as possible."
The overhead camera ran con­tinuously
and got the entire opera­tion
from the time the doctors
started the incision until the time
they closed. "All of the procedures
and specific equipment used were
recorded," Poston said.
The floor shots were recorded
with a portable recorder by BCC's
producer/director, Jackie Croc-kett.
Dennis Large, engineer/co­ordinator,
and Russell Riedling,
.Manager of Media · Distribution
Services, did all the overhead
camera work. Poston worked
with Crockett in the operating
room.
Poston said that as soon as the
donor heart was delivered and put
into place with sutures, the BCC
staff rushed the tape to the Health
Sciences Center and within an
hour, 10 minutes of raw footage
was edited together for media re­lease.
"All of this was approved by
a representative from Jewish Hos­pital
who had accompanied Croc­kett
back to the control room."
This 10 minute segment was
duplicated 29 limes to be distri­buted
to local and statewide news
facilities. NBC's national head­quarters
also requested a copy of
the tape.
According to Poston, the proce­dure
went smoothly and at no time
was there even a hint of any prob­lem.
"It was an exceptional piece
of surgery. Dr. Gray is an excel­lent
surgeon. Our people in
Biomedical Communications did
an excellent job. I was very im­pressed
with the quality and
speed with which they worked."
• 1
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Dr. Lahman A. Gray recently became the first
surgeon in Kentucky to perform a heart trans-plant.
Gray is a professor in the department of
surgery at the University of Louisville.
Gray performs h eart transplant with real style
By KAY MORGAN
CardinaJ Staff Writer
An elderly, gray-haired man is
the image most people get of a
doctor proficient enough to per­form
the first heart transplant in
Kentucky. Dr. Lahman A. Gray
Jr., professor in the department of
Surgery at the University of
Louisville, destroys that image.
Gray, 44, has bef'n practicing
medicine in Louisville for len
years. In his quiet, unassuming
manner he described the prepara­tions
for the heart surgery as a
man who is confident, but not ar­rogant.
The doctor does not come
across like someone who has done
something spectacular: He is
quick to point out that the success
of such a procedure required
great team work. Gray gave credit
to Dr. Robin Howe, also from the
surgery department, and the two
residents who assisted, as well as
the score of other medical person­nel
who aidea in the surgery.
"It's important· that people
realize the surgery was done,"
Gray said. "We had been prepar­ing
for this day for nearly a year in
cooperation with about 50 Univer­sity
staff members."
Gray went to John Hopkins
Medical School after interning at
the University of Michigan in gen­eral
surgery. He did his residency
in Michigan specializing in cardic
and thoracic surgery.
Science has always been an in­tegral
part of his life, Gray said. At
one point Gray was seriously con­sidering
not being a doctor. "In
fact," he said, "I even thought
about going into chemistry, but I
was more interested in dealing
with . people, :;;o I we,nt into
medicine. ••
Cardiac transplantation has in­terested
Gray for several years,
and he said the transplant has
been his focus for the past year.
"Particularly for the past six
months we've been working very
hard on that."
He said until about a year ago it
had been too costly a procedure to
perform and only one center in the
country was doing heart trans­plants.
Then when new proce­dures
were perfected to keep the
body from rejecting the new
heart, the field began to open up.
Gray saic;l he thought the trans­plant
w.ill be heneficial to U of L's
Medical School. "I think that it of­fers
an area of academic expertise
that we have not had before," he
said. "One reason that we were
able to do this was we were able to
draw on a lot of people in the Med­ical
School to help. Any one indi­vidual
doesn't have the knowl­edge
to do this, so we pooled our
knowledge. "
About 4 p.m. the afternoon be­fore
he did the surgery Gray said
he "knew it was a go." The team
knew they had a recipient and
donor and began to put the wheels
in motion. "Everything had to be
coordinated to the second. This all
was pre-planrii:Hl and rehearsed
months in advance."
The previous planning was
worked out down to the detail,
Gray said. "The details involved
are absolutely staggering," he
said. "Everything has to be coordi­nated.
You're dependent on a lot
of people, but we've been ready to
move for three months now."
The night before the surgery
Gray said he notified the team to
be ready to pick up the heart. He
then made several phone calls to
coordinate the procedures.
"We knew we had approxi­mately
an hour to gel the heart
here," he said. "On the team's trip
back with the donor heart to
Louisville, we knew when they_
Continued on page 16
Sororities, fraternities, geared up for rush week
By JOYCE SHULTZ
Cardinal Features Editor
Young women stood around in
small groups, drinking soft drinks
and eating sandwiches on the Red
Barn patio. ·
"Don,t think you,re coming out
here to join your high school social
club," said Harold Adams, vice
president for student life.
Young men passed out flyers
that gave an itinerary of parties to
come to passersby on the sidewalk
in front of the Student Center.
"Tell your friends about it," they
said.
The occassion is sorority and
fraternity rush, and although both
use the term "rush" to designate
the week of parties that bring
Greeks and potential Greeks to­gether,
each goes about the pro­cess
in entirely different ways,
"Women have a tendency to be
a little more organized," said
Sheila Wallace, president of the
University of Louisville's Panhel­lenic
Council, which is composed
of seven sororities. Wallace said
she helps Laura Martin, sorority
rush chairman, with the behind
scenes work.
The past week of formal soror-
Swain looks for an
exciting year ahead
By LARRY D. CROOM
Cardinal Editor
Strategic planning, faculty
salaries and the newly hired pro­vost
are but a few of the reasons
University of Louisville President
Dr. Donald C. Swain sees the up­coming
year as "very exciting" for
UofL.
"I think it is going to be an im­portant
year," said Swain.
Strategic planning, an in-depth
study detailing the directions this
University should take for the fu­ture,
is a topic Swain looks to with
great optimism.
"That really is in many ways a
key to the future," be said. "Some
aspects of it will produce disagree­ments
and conflicts, but conflicts
can have a positive result."
An issue Swain is concerned
about is the conflict surrounding
faculty and staff salaries at U of L.
He said he is willing to go to bat for
the faculty and staff in front of the
legislature, but is unsure exactly
what he can accomplish.
"I share the displeasure of fac­ulty
and staff(coping) with the two
Inside
percent (salar y) adjustments," he
said.
Swain has a plan for improving
faculty salaries in the future. He is
interested in the possibility of im­plementing
salary catchups to
allow faculty and staff to eventu­ally
earn salaries competitive with
comparable staff at other univer­sities.
"I want to involve faculty and
staff to develop results," said
Swain.
Another benefit Swain sees for
the upcoming year is the hiring of
a new University provost and a
new business school dean.
The new provost, Bill Dorrell,
will be used to help improve the
lines of communication between
the faculty and staff senates and
the administration, as we ll as han­dling
a number of other responsi­bilities.
"I am confiden t he will be a
major asset to U ofL," said Swain.
"I will be able to (develop) the con­cept
of provost to a major post."
Bob Taylor has been hired as
Continued on pa.re 7
•
ity rush, which ends Sept. 8 has
been four weeks in the making.
Ads were placed in six area high
schools last spring and open house
events were held through the
summer. During orientation,
Gr.eek life interest sessions were
held and information was sent to
students who wrote down their
names.
"They come to see us," said
Marlin. She said the only way the
sororities reach out is by the ban­ner
of the Life Sciences Building.
A $5 fee is required ~o join soror ­ity
rush. The money goes for the
brochures and food supplies at the
picnic.
At the picnic, rushees are di­vided
up into smaller groups
headed by a rush counselor. "The
rush counselors are sort of like
big sisters all week," said Lori
Bryant of the Panhellenic Coun­cil.
Fraternity rush, on the other
hand , is much less fo rmal. There
is no fee to go th rough rush, and
no rush counselor to guide men
through rush. Unlike the
sororities, men who go through
rush are not obligated to visit all
the fraternities.
"We are more accomodating to
the guys' schedule," said David
Brutscher, rush chairman for the
Interfraternity Council. While a
sorority rushee must contact the
student life office to inform them if
she cannot attend a party so her
name will not be dropped from the
list, frate r nity rushees are under
no obligation to do so. No list is
kept of fraternity rushees.
"Sororities do a better job of in­forming
girls of what exactly fees
a re and things like that., said
Brutscher.
"Sororities gel more publicity to
the individual rushee," said Wal­lace.
She said she believed that
fraternities are gelling more struc­tured.
Brulscher said he believes it's
up to the individual fraternity to
get guys interested, but that the
Interfraternity Council is begin­ning
to do more advertising.
"What I would say is a disadvan­tage
of the sorority system is that
the way it is structured might pre­c
lude some girls from going
through because they don't know
h6w to sign up," said Brutscher.
Continued on page 8
WLCV is operating
on a tight budget,
continuing format
By SUZANNE ELSWICK
Cardinal Staff Writer
The staff at WLCV, the student
radio station, is trying hard to run
a tight ship this year. After being
turned down for an increase in
their budget, they are determined
to prove that the station is deserv­ing
of some increased funding.
They have tightened the for­mat;
instead of a "play what you
want to" setup, they have opted
for a mare contempoorary hit
radio playlist. Disc jockeys are
trained extensively before they go
on the air, and the new format is
strictly enforced by station policy.
In April 1984, program director
Virgil Baldon submitted a budget
request for WLCV to the Office of
Student Affairs. He had re­quested
a b udget of $24,550. The
request was categorized and
noted the need for the station to
purchase new or better equip­ment
to replace what the station is
now using, which is in danger of
falling apart at any given moment.
down. fhey would receive $3,900,
the same amount they have re­ceived
for several years.
Brooks, a sophomore in" ac­counting,
said that Dr. Ed Ham­mond,
vice president for student
affairs, told him that the adminis­tration
had considered totally ex­cluding
WLCV from the budget,
and that they were ''lucky" to get
the $3,900.
That amount of money is just
harely 'enough to cover the most
basic of expenses for WLCV. The
cost of installing and restoring
phone lines that will broadcast
into the dorms will be close to
$2,000, over half of the entire
budget. "We wanted to revamp
the station," said Brooks. It looks
like that won't happen for at least
another year.
Dorms are laboratories? . Page 4
Students return to campus with
opinions galore . . . . . . Page 7
Fast Break, Assistant Sports
Editor gets his shot . . . PS/fe IZ Bottoms Up!
Baldon and Steve Brooks, gen­eral
manager, never heard a re­sponse
from that office. They
were told they would have a
chance to state their case at the
July Board of Trustees meeting.
They never got that chance. They
were told the Board had already
finalized the budget, and that
their request had been turned
Baldon said he asked the stu­dent
affairs office if there were
any other channels they could go
through for money. According to
Baldon, the office could offer no
suggestions. Brooks and Baldon
eventually went to the Student
Government Association on their
own and applied for funds. They
received $400, the maximum
amount available for non-travel
expenses from SGA. Baldon said
their relationship with the SGA is
very good right now.
Admissions Office enters the
computer ag·e . . . . . . . Palfe 9
Eye of the Needle, Bock & Roll
really isn't dead . . . . . Page 14 U of L cheerleaders John Shafer and Scott Greenwald prepare
to catch Teri Hatfield while practicing a routine Tuesday.
Help could be on the way from
Continued on pace 7